And as the stone glowed brighter, an even greater magical glow appeared in front of it. Streams of light from all directions flowed into the magical glow as something solid formed within the glow. Dust and dirt and magical light coalesced, and then there was a blinding flash of light. When the flash cleared, another stone could be seen on the ground in front of Jo.
Karyn found herself picking up the new stone. She stared at it for a while, noticing to herself that it was identical to the wishing stone except that there was a number '3' carved into it. She realized right away that it was the Genie Stone, or another Genie Stone that had just been created by the wish. However, even though Jo had told her all about the Genie Stone, how it worked, and why it had a number carved on it, she found herself uttering the words "I wish to know why there's a number 3 on my stone."
The stone glowed, and when the light dissipated, there was a number 2 carved into the stone. And instantly, Karyn knew that this was the Genie Stone. Unlike the regular wishing stone, it only granted three wishes per person. Karyn suddenly realized what was happening and why she had already wasted one of the wishes, but she couldn't stop herself from speaking and making the next wish. "I wish I knew how this stone works," she said, and the stone glowed.
Its number changed from two to one. And instantly, the knowledge came into her head that unlike the regular wishing stone, the Genie Stone's wishes were reversible. And it had unlimited range too. With such obvious advantages over the regular wishing stone, it was truly a waste of wishes to use them up on information on how the Genie Stone worked. But the only way around that would be to wish to become a different person, the way Jon had wished to become Karyn's friend Jo. That way, in their new identity, they would be back to three wishes.
Karyn tried to stop herself, for she knew what was coming next, but she couldn't. She couldn't go against the script Jo's wish had created. "I wish I was Jo's friend but that Jo would remember both the old and the new realities."
The number on the Genie Stone blurred and changed into a zero, and Karyn felt herself change. Her body remolded itself, and new desires flowed through her head. Because of course she ... he heard the wish, he remembered the old reality but did not feel like the old reality was a state he had to get back to.
He was Karl, a boy. He remembered being Karyn, but she was now more like a character he'd seen in a movie or played in a video game. He now understood perfectly what Jo had been saying before she made that last wish.
"I ... I think I understand now, Jo." said Karl.
Jo was staring at the Genie Stone. "But why did the wish create a new Genie Stone?" she asked.
"It's because of the wish." Karl said. "You wished that Karyn would change into a boy named Karl in much the same way you changed into Jo. So here I am, and here's the Genie Stone."
Karl stared at the Genie Stone, which he was still holding. The number carved on it had now changed to 3. Jo, meanwhile, was holding the regular wishing stone.
"Wow." Jo said, still trying to take it in. "This wishing stone is scary in how powerful it is."
"I know." Karl said. "But now we've got the wishing stone, which grants unlimited wishes that can't be directly reversed and has a range limitation. And a Genie Stone that grants only three wishes per person but its wishes CAN be reversed and there's no range limitation. What are we going to do now?"
"I don't know." Jo said. "But I think we'd better save the Genie Stone until we get into some mess the regular wishing stone can't get us out of."
Karl nodded. Then something occurred to him. "I'm wondering - where did the original Genie Stone come from?"
"What do you mean?" Jo asked.
"You first found it when you woke up to discover someone had switched the stones. Then you went back in time to switch the stones yourself." Karl said. "You switched the wishing stone with a Genie Stone that you couldn't have obtained without the switch in the first place. When was THAT Genie Stone created?"
"Ugh, you're right. Time loops are so confusing." Jo said. "Should we just not worry about it and go on with our new lives?"
"Maybe." Karl said. "So what do we do now?"
